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my ex girlfriend came from a village in the philippines and she pretty much expected the streets to be made of gold. she also didnt understand why everyone worked so much.
Thats true.
My contact was with professionals (Engineers, Scientists, Business people, and of course lawyers) and they all worked huge hours.
Interestingly, I was talking to a canadian the other day here in Aus and they said that in Canada, if you are a mother and you work part time that you are seen as a bit of a looser. In Australia, job sharing is quite common.
What is the go in America?
I am not talking working in McDonalds here. These are professional and semi professional positions like teachers, accountants, office managers, accounnts receivable / payable person, secretaries, sales people, public servants.
Another friend of mine who is from Belgium said he was shocked to see so many churches and religious fundamentalists when he went to the Deep South.
It made him wonder just what was wrong with the USA to have fostered that. I couldn't answer for him.
My Aunt went to Belgium and was shocked at the lax church-attendance of the land of her ancestors. It made her wonder just what was wrong with Belgium to foster that. I don't know if any Belgian answered her.
My Aunt went to Belgium and was shocked at the lax church-attendance of the land of her ancestors. It made her wonder just what was wrong with Belgium to foster that. I don't know if any Belgian answered her.
I could. Probably having a good education system and a world view that makes anything anyone in the Deep South knows pale in comparison. Further, they probably care more about fact and reason fostering suitable debate and scientific investigation over heresay and single-source definitions of "proof."
I could. Probably having a good education system and a world view that makes anything anyone in the Deep South knows pale in comparison. Further, they probably care more about fact and reason fostering suitable debate and scientific investigation over heresay and single-source definitions of "proof."
But, LOL that is just me.
Don't you think that was a pretty bad attempt to wrap a concept (which you clearly do not understand) into a little box and mark it as fiction?
A pity that religeous belief is considered bad by those who do not share it and no religeous belief can be considered bad by those who do hold a religeous belief.
I am a christian. I attend Church. My choice.
You don't. Your choice.
I have a university degree. In the science and maths area. It is not that I have not considered it. I have. Please do not assume that just because a person hold a religeous belief it is due to a poor education system or ignorance.
To me science and faith can coexist because in my view they seek to do different things. I hope that one day science can proove whether there is a God or not. To date as far as I know that has not been achieved.
This should of course continue in the religeon forum.
I could. Probably having a good education system and a world view that makes anything anyone in the Deep South knows pale in comparison. Further, they probably care more about fact and reason fostering suitable debate and scientific investigation over heresay and single-source definitions of "proof."
But, LOL that is just me.
I'm aware of the equating of irreligion=smart and religion=stupid. There is a correlation between education levels and lowered religion, but it's not exact and doesn't work with all religions. When it comes to reading scores Belgium does poorer than Ireland or Poland on the PISA test. Although they do better than those two on math and science. Highly irreligious Norway does worse than Poland and Ireland in all things they measured.
Although the most educated states are the more irreligious ones in New England, there are states with above average religiosity (like Virginia and Nebraska) that do pretty well.
Now if you just mean a Fundamentalist Christian orientation I might agree, but I got the sense you were slamming religiousness in general. Although even then there are highly intelligent people even among the Southern Baptists.
I haven´t been in america yet. Some things that shocked friends of mine who travelled to the USA as tourists or lived in the USA:
1) Obvious: Everything is BIG - The houses, the refrigators, the TVs, the yards, the cars, the streets, the shopping centers, the coffee, coke- and fast food- sizes, the belly sizes ...
2) No discussion: the very high number of fat and obese people. It´s not a prejudice, that´s just a fact!
That doesn´t mean that many american aren´t fat and don´t eat healthy - America isn´t only a fat, but also a sport nation
3) Hidden: The gap between wealth and poverty - wealthy, very clean suburbs, run down inner cities and crappy rural back roads and homes and the high number of homeless sleeping in rows
A friend told me, that american cities are cleaner than in Germany - he has relatives in a neighborhood in LA
Others told me, that rural america is poor and lacking infrastructure - they visited friends in rural PA
One told me that he took the wrong way with his car in NY in the evening. Everything run down, litter on the sideways, broken windows - he tried to get out as fast as possible.
A friend of mine - carpenter - was shocked by the low quality of many houses, cheap, but substandard houses; big suburb houses, that are built for only 10 or 20 years
4) Sad: small general knowledge, especially history and geography. I heard from more than one, that some people believe that Germany is still Nazi country or that Hitler is still alive. But maybe this are runnig gags that travellers tell as if it were prevalent. You can guess it better.
5) Crazy/stupid: A student in Texas noticed: gun- shooting of rednecks in the woods
Right- wingers trying to shoot illegals on the banks of the Rio Grande
6) Impressive: the multiculturalism based on "live and let live" - best sign for a group of muslim friends who went to NY: traditionell muslims and jews (among them zionist jews) live in neighbored quarters without (obvious) problems and intolerance!
They are proud to be americans AND proud of their religion, culture and heritage - this must be the solution for the integration of our migrants in Germany too.
7) Pleasant: the friendlyness and easy- going- attitude; in general to deal with americans is maybe easier than with us Germans
Well, honestly I think some of your friends are exaggerating a bit. For example, the "right-wingers" trying to shoot people on the banks of the Rio Grande, or "rows" of homeless people sleeping.
When we were in Germany, we found the people generally friendly and helpful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by eskercurve
Another friend of mine who is from Belgium said he was shocked to see so many churches and religious fundamentalists when he went to the Deep South.
It made him wonder just what was wrong with the USA to have fostered that. I couldn't answer for him.
Why would there have to be something "wrong" with the USA for that to be the case?
Although the most educated states are the more irreligious ones in New England, there are states with above average religiosity (like Virginia and Nebraska) that do pretty well.
Another friend of mine who is from Belgium said he was shocked to see so many churches and religious fundamentalists when he went to the Deep South.
It made him wonder just what was wrong with the USA to have fostered that. I couldn't answer for him.
To be honest, I'm surprised that this shocked your friend from Belgium. I personally don't have a religion and I come from a country where that is the norm but I knew before going to America that there would be much higher rates of religiousness. I also knew that the rates would be higher in the deep south (it's not called the "Bible belt" for nothing). I thought this was common knowledge throughout the rest of the western world and it surprises me that somebody from Belgium didn't know this.
I'm a non religious person, and a staunch secularist but as long as somebody elses religion doesn't effect my personal life, or cross over into government decisions then why would I care whether or not somebody else is religious. As a visitor, it shouldn't really make any difference whether an area is very religious or not (it hasn't for me), it's not like there are a bunch of people are out there targeting visitors in hopes of conversion.
Quote:
Originally Posted by aidxen
A pity that religeous belief is considered bad by those who do not share it and no religeous belief can be considered bad by those who do hold a religeous belief.
I am a christian. I attend Church. My choice.
You don't. Your choice.
This should of course continue in the religeon forum.
Well said. I particularly agree we are in danger of getting off topic here. I think this is great thread and don't want to see it disappear in a flame war. We are getting a little close to a theistic debate here. The religion forum is a much better place for this.
Thats true.
My contact was with professionals (Engineers, Scientists, Business people, and of course lawyers) and they all worked huge hours.
Interestingly, I was talking to a canadian the other day here in Aus and they said that in Canada, if you are a mother and you work part time that you are seen as a bit of a looser. In Australia, job sharing is quite common.
What is the go in America?
I am not talking working in McDonalds here. These are professional and semi professional positions like teachers, accountants, office managers, accounnts receivable / payable person, secretaries, sales people, public servants.
i think im gettin ya. mothers here that work part time arent considered losers. at least not that ive ever heard, thats just weird. theyre just trying to support their baby.
so what if you work full time and are a mother? does that make you more of a loser, i wonder? i knew plenty of moms that i used to work with at DHL putting in 60+ hrs a wk. they didnt seem like losers.
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